Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has promised to partner with the Federal Government to boost productivity.
The governor stated this at the maiden National Productivity Day Celebration held by National Productivity Centre (NPC), on Tuesday in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
The governor was represented at the occasion by Mr Umar Idris, Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Secretariat at the Office of the State Head of Civil Service.
He lauded the efforts of the federal government toward diversifying the economy and said the state government had already keyed into the initiative.
Sule added that his government had trained and empowered thousands of youths and women in different skills and gave them start-up packs to set up their businesses.
“Apart from the training in different skills we have been doing for youths and women, we also introduced skills training for civil servants, who are about to retire from service.
“The first batch of retirees who were about to leave active service after the mandatory years were trained on different skills at the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technology Institute Lafia.
“They were trained on Livestock Production, Auto Mechanic, Electrical Installation, Leather Works, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Cosmetology, Tailoring and Fashion Design and Baking, Pastries and Confectionary among others.
He, therefore, assured that the state government had a lot of initiatives to empower the indigenes of the state and make their lives worthwhile.
In her welcome address, Imosun Mojisola, Nasarawa State Coordinator, NPC, said the centre has continued to play pivotal role in contributing to economic development of the country.
She added that the centre had been facilitating productivity consciousness and improvement through various programmes which includes deployment of productivity tools and techniques to companies and organisations.
Mojisola promised continuous partnership with different groups to promote productivity and diversification of the economy for national growth.
In his goodwill message, Prof. Samaila Dakyes, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Partnership, Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), tasked captains of industries and heads of organisations to focus attention in developing and improving human capital.
He added that it was the collective efforts of the human resource that would transform into better and higher productivity.
He said that if the welfare of human beings working in any organisation was properly taken care of, it would lead to better output and vise versa.
Dakyes, therefore, called on managements of public and private organisations to be more creative in approach, to better the working conditions for the staff given the economy reality in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highlights of the programme included paper presentation and exhibition of products by entrepreneurs among others. (NAN)
